Memorial Announcement for William B. Whiteside

Story posted November 28, 2007

To Members of the Bowdoin Community,

I am writing with great sadness to inform you that our much-loved and respected friend and colleague, William B. Whiteside, passed away on Sunday, November 25, at Brentwood Manor in Yarmouth at the age of 86.

Bill Whiteside, the Frank Munsey Professor of History Emeritus, was a member of the Bowdoin faculty for 35 years until his retirement in 1989. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he spent his childhood in Evanston, Ill., graduating from Evanston Township High School. He was a 1943 Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College and a past president of the Bowdoin College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1944, Bill married Virginia Sandin, a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and a long-time teacher of English and social studies in the Brunswick school system. The couple raised two sons, David ’72 and John Whiteside. Virginia Whiteside passed away in February 1990.

Bill served in the Army Air Force during World War II and attained the rank of first lieutenant. Following the war, he earned his master's and doctoral degrees at Harvard University. Before coming to Bowdoin in 1953, he was an instructor in history at Amherst for two years. During the summer of 1952, he was visiting assistant professor of history at Stetson University in Deland, Fla.

In 1988, Bill received Bowdoin’s first Gordon S. Hargraves ’19 Preservation of Freedom Fund Prize, which recognizes contributions to the “understanding and advancement of human freedoms and the duty of the individual to protect and strengthen these freedoms at all times.” His career included many such contributions.

Bill taught in one of the first Peace Corps training programs, at Rutgers University in 1961, where he worked with a group of volunteers for service in Colombia. In 1962, he was appointed the first director of Bowdoin's Senior Center – now Coles Tower – and served until 1971, when he resigned to devote his time to his passions of teaching and research. From the time it opened in 1964 until 1979, the Senior Center housed all members of the senior class. The associated program of lectures and seminars provided the seniors with an opportunity to study and live together in an atmosphere of common interests.

In 1969 Bill Whiteside became the fourth occupant of the Munsey chair, established in 1925 by Frank A. Munsey, a leading figure in American journalism during the first quarter of the 20th century.

The Bowdoin Alumni Council presented Bill with its Award for Faculty and Staff in 1977. The award recognizes outstanding “service and devotion to Bowdoin.” The citation that accompanied the award read, in part, “As a friend, a teacher of American history, and a gentleman, you have earned the respect and warm regard of many hundreds of students at Bowdoin.”

In 1978-79, Bill held a Fulbright appointment in Taiwan, where he taught at Tamkang College and Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei. Another Fulbright grant enabled Bill to lecture in American history at Beijing University in China during 1982-1983. He was one of only three Americans selected under the program.

In 1987, on the occasion of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, Bill helped coordinate a lecture series titled “The U.S. Constitution, Into the Third Century.” A popular guest speaker, he spoke at numerous Bowdoin alumni club functions.

Bill married the former Susan Rupert-George in May 1991. During Bill’s retirement, the couple operated the Tower Hill bed and breakfast on Orr’s Island, where Bill is said to have held breakfast table seminars on world events for guests, including many former students.

The Whiteside family has announced that a memorial service for Bill will be held on Friday, December 28, at 3:00 p.m. at First Parish Church in Brunswick.

For more than three decades as a member of the faculty, and nearly two decades since his retirement, Bill Whiteside made enormous contributions to Bowdoin and to the lives of countless students, faculty, administrators, and alumni. Through his wisdom and devotion to this college, Bill Whiteside has made Bowdoin a stronger place for us all. His wife, Susan, and the entire Whiteside family have our deepest sympathies for their loss and our profound gratitude for Bill’s long and dedicated service to Bowdoin.

Sincerely yours,

Barry Mills

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